Engine.



Patenfted Mar. I8, |902.

A. A. & w. L. nAnBY.

E N G I N E.

(Application led Sept. 16, 1901.)

(No Model.)

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AVERNO ARCOLA DARBY AND VILLIAM LEANDER DARBY, OF VIDALIA, GEORGIA.

ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters `Patent No. 695,7 98, dated March18, 1902.

Application led September 16. 1901. Serial No. 75,529. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, AvEENo ARCOLA DARBY and WILLIAM LEANDER DARBY,citizens of the United States, residing at and Whose post-oiice addressis Vidalia, in the county of Montgomery and State of Georgia, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Engines, of which the followingis a specication.

Our invention relates to improvements in engines, and its primary objectis to increase the power and speed of this class of engines.

The main characteristic of the invention is the employment of threeindependent cylinders, within each of which is arranged a piston-head,the relative arrangement of the cylinders being such as to insure anequalization of the power for driving a double-crank shaft, ashereinafter fully described.

The engine is adapted to be driven by steam, gas, hot air, compressedair, or by any explosive motive iiuid, and its construction will befully described hereinafter in connection with theaccompanyingdrawings,which form a part of this specification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a horizontal section of an engineconstructed in accordance with our invention, and Fig. 2is an endelevation of the outer cylinder thereof.

The reference numeral 1 designates the bed-plate of an engine, formedwith bearings 2 and 3 for a transverse shaft 3, formed with twooppositely-disposed cranks 4 and 5.

The numerals 6, 7, and 8 designate three independent cylinders, whichare arranged end to end in overlapped relation, the central orintermediate cylinder 7 communicating with the outer end of the cylinder6 and the inner end of the cylinder 8.

9 designates a piston-rod, which extends through the cylinders G and 8and stufngboxes 10 and 11, and upon said rod 9 are secured twopiston-heads 12 and 13, arranged, respectively, within the cylinders 6and 8. The inner end of the piston 9 is connected to a cross-head 14,adapted to slide upon the guides 16, and connected by a link 17 and aneccentric 18 with the crank 5.

18 designates a piston rod extending through a stuffing-box 2O and intothe intermediate cylinder 7, a piston-head 2l beingfixed upon the outerend of the piston-rod 19.

The inner end of the piston-rod 19 is connected to a cross-head 22,which moves in guideways 23, formed on the bed-plate 1, said cross-headbeing connected by a link 24 and an eccentric 25 with the crank 4. 26designates a steam-chest arranged at one side of the intermediatecylinder 7, and Within said chest is a slide-valve 27, adapted tocontrol steam-ports 28 and 29 and an exhaust 30.

31 designates a valve-rod, which extends through a stuffing-box 32 intothe steam-chest 26. This rod 31 extends through an opening in the valve27, and said valve is secured in place thereon by means of nuts 33,arranged on opposite sides of the valve 27, as shown in the drawings.The opposite end of the rod 31 is connected to a slide 34, which isreciprocated by the rotation of the shaft 3u through the intermediacy ofan eccentric 35 and a link connection 36 between said eccentric and theslide 34.

The numeral 37 designates flanges projecting from the cylinders tofacilitate their attachment to the bed-plates of the engine by bolts 38.The cylinders are also flanged for attachment to one another by thebolts 39.

40 designates the cap of the steam-chest.

In operation the steam enters between two piston-heads instead ofbetween one pistonhead and the ordinary cylinder-head, and thus thesteam expands quickly in both directions, causing the piston-heads12 and13 to move togethertoward the right as the pist0n-head 21 in thecylinder 7 is forced to the left. The result of this construction andrelative arrangement of the cylinders and pistonheads is that anA equalpull is imparted to each of the cranks 4 and 5, insuring a quick andpositive revolution of the shaft 3 and effectually avoidingdead-centers.

Instead of arranging the cylinders 6, 7, and 8, as shown in the drawingsand hereinbefore described, in staggered or overlapped relaytion we may,if desired, employ a continuous straight cylinder by passing thepiston-rods through the front and middle piston-heads, usingstuffing-boxes in said heads to prevent the escape of steam. Thestraight cylinder will apply to small engines; but for larger en- IOOgines we will employ the construction shownr in the drawings in order toget su fcient space for the large double crank. We also reserve theright to locate the two cranks a sufficient distance apart to affordspace for a bearing between the cranks, as large engines would require asupport at this point.

By disconnecting either side of the engine and blocking the samesecurely we will have an ordinary single-expansion engine.

\Vc would have it understood that the details of construction of theimprovement may be varied without departing from the spirit of ourinvention, and therefore that our invention is not restricted to theconstruction shown in the drawings, but includes all 'such embodimentsof the invention as may fall within the scope of the following claim.

We claim- In an engine of the character described, the combination witha shaft formed with oppositely-disposed cranks; of alining cylindersspaced apart, a piston-rod connected to one of the cranks and extendinginto said cylinders, a piston in each cylinder and secured to said rod,an intermediate cylinder removed from the rod and communicating at itsends with the alining cylinders, a single piston-rod in said cylinderand connected to a crank on the shaft, a piston on said rod and in theintermediate cylinder, the pistonrods being parallel, an inlet and anexhaust at opposite ends of the intermediate cylinder, a chest upon theintermediate cylinder, and a valve therein operated from thecrank-shaft.

In testimony whereof we afx our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

AVERNO ARCOLA DARBY. WILLIAM LEANDER DARBY. Witnesses:

E. S. MEADOWS, J. E. SoHUMP-ERT.

